Journal centering guide of plastic for a railway journal



' J 1969 F. G. FISHER ETAL JOURNAL CENTERING GUIDE OF PLASTIC FOR A RAILWAY JOURNAL Filed Jan. 23, 1967- Sheet pr 2 Z ii? i ATTORNEYS June 10, 1969 F. G. FISHER ETAL JOURNAL CENTERING GUIDE OF PLASTIC FOR A RAILWAY JOURNAL Filed Jan. 23, 1967 Sheet 2 of2 INVEN T0 72 mb): 6.725% I United States Patent US. CI. 30840 2 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The present invention relates to an improved journal centering guide for a railway journal. The plastic of the guide is recessed behind the head to make it better withstand impact. The guide is held in its retainer by an improved latch which is protected against distortion.

Disclosure The present invention relates to an improved journal centering guide for use in connection with a railway journal.

A purpose of the invention is to provide a journal centering guide of a plastic such as nylon which has recesses extending from the back toward the head which make the guide more resistant to impact.

A further purpose is to protect against distortion of the latch when removing it from the journal centering guide retainer.

Further purposes appear in the specification and in the claims.

In the drawings we have chosen to illustrate one only of the numerous embodiments in which the invention may appear, selecting the forms shown from the standpoints of convenience in illustration, satisfactory operation and clear demonstration of the principles involved.

FIGURE 1 is a fragmentary diagrammatic end elevation, partly broken away, showing a journal box equipped with improved journal centering guides of the invention.

FIGURE 2 is a fragmentary interior view looking from the axis of the journal at the fI'Ont of one of the journal centering guides of the invention.

FIGURE 3 is an exploded perspective of the journal centering guide of the invention.

FIGURE 4 is an enlarged front elevation of the journal centering guide, broken away at the latching openings and showing the insertion of the latch,

FIGURE 5 is a view of the journal centering guide at the same scale as FIGURE 4 looking from the latching end.

FIGURE 6 is a view similar to FIGURE 4 showing the completion of latching.

FIGURE 7 is a section of FIGURE 6 on the line 7-7.

FIGURE 8 is a section of FIGURE 6 on the line s s.

Up until about 1945 journal stops or journal centering guides were not ordinarily used in American Railway Association journals. Difliculty was caused because the axle tended to move laterally. For example, in braking, the axle would in many cases move forward or backward (one axle would move forward and one axle would move backward) since motion of the axle laterally with respect to the center of the journal box is likely to take place due to slack, or in connection with application of power or braking or due to humping. Various forms of damageresulted including striking or wearing the side of the journal box or related parts such as the wedge, the hearing, or the lubricator beds, or destroying the dust guards.

3,449,026 Patented June 10, 1969 Extensive use has been made of journal centering guides shown in our US. Patent 3,132,905, granted May 12, 1964, for Journal Stop.

As more service experience has been obtained on journal centering guides of this character, comprising plastic blocks preferably of nylon, difficulty has been encountered causing failure of the blocks. From a study of these failures We havediscovered that after considerable service involved considerable impact on the blocks, they become hot from internal friction, and an internal blister or bubble develops, usually near the middle or rear end. The bubble becomes larger and eventually develops a crack or a check. This continues and causes separation of the plastic block, requiring displacement.

We have discovered that the difficulty can be overcome by providing recesses from the back toward the head of the block terminating before the head is reached. The thickness of any portion of the block measured in any direction should not, for best results, exceed approximately one-half inch.

In the improved block of the invention there is thus lateral freedom for flexing of supporting walls which can enter the space of the recesses when impact is applied, reducing the tendency to generate excessive internal heat from the energy absorbed and preventing the need for the heat to flow through large thicknesses of plastic before it can be dissipated. This is an advantage because the plastic is a heat insulator.

A further difliculty has been encountered in service, using a leaf-spring type of latch to hold the plastic journal centering guide in its housing. There has been a tendency in the past for the leaf-spring to deflect laterally instead of moving of the free ends straight toward one another. We have provided a guide for the latch pins so that the latch cannot distort.

Considering now the drawings in detail, a journal box 20 of American Railway Association type is shown in FIGURE 1 provided with an axle 21 and a well-known journal (not shown). The box itself has relatively straight upper side walls 22, and a bulbous flare at 23 opposite the center of the axle extending horizontally across the journal box. There is a waste retainer rib at 24 which is optionally present and where used the housing will be secured in the journal box according to our patent application Ser. No. 531,105, filed Mar. 2, 1966, for Journal Stop, now US. Patent 3,378,317,

The journal centering guide comprises a retainer or housing 25 suitably of sheet metal and comprising a flat portion 26 which receives the back of the journal centering guide to be described, and having a channel provided longitudinally by outwardly converging top and bottom walls 27. The channel is closed at one end by an end wall 28 extending outwardly, and is open at the other end. Near the open end the sloping walls 27 diverge to form outwardly extending wall portions 30 and they have at the top and bottom latch openings 3-1.

For convenient anchorage to the opposed walls of the journal box opposite the center 32 of the axle we provide secured as by welding to the back of the retainer or housing a suitably curved metallic pad 3-3 which is united to the journal box by welds '34 as best seen in FIGURES 1 and 2.

The journal centering guide 3 5 is basically a block of plastic, suitably nylon or poly vinylchloride, which has a flat back face 36 which engages the back receiving face 26 of the retainer or housing and has outwardly converging side walls 37 which engage against and are held by the converging walls 27 at the top and bottom of the retainer or housing.

The journal centering guide has rectangular end walls 38 at each end.

Parallel to the flat back wall and acting as the effective impact engaging surface, there is a wall 40 facing toward the side of the axle and formed by an impact receiving head portion 41 of the journal centering guide.

The head portion desirably is provided with vertical lubrication grooves 42, if desired.

Extending from the flat back 36 to the head but not extending through the head 41 are a series of longitudinal recesses 43 of which four are shown, each of the recesses being rectangular except for rounded ends at 44-.

The combination of recesses 43 and the outside wall portions 45, the longitudinal septum 46 between the recesses, and the lateral septum 47 between the recesses provide a honeycomb construction of the side wall area to support the head 41. 1

With the journal centering guide in place in its retainer or housing, a latch 48 is inserted. The latch has top and bottom latch pins 50 which enter the top and bottom latching openings and these are secured as by brazing to top end 51 and bottom end 52 of a leaf-spring 53- which has a return bend 54 providing a handle for grasping the latch.

The top latch pin '50 has secured to itself and to the top end of the leaf-spring by brazing a spring retraction guide 55 formed, for example, of sheet metal and extending down to a position adjacent the lower pin 50, the guide having a U-shaped section 56 as best seen in FIGURE 8 which is adapted to surround and guide the lower latch pin and the lower end 52 of the leaf-spring as it retracts, as best seen in FIGURES 6 and 8.

In operation the journal centering guide retainers or housings are fastened into the interior of the journal box as by welding as shown.

Then the journal centering guides themselves are slid into the channels in the retainers or housings until one end 38 of the journal centering guide is against one end 28 of the housing. The latch is inserted by inserting either the lower or upper latch pin and contracting the leafspring with a hand or with a tool such as a pair of pliers. As the latch becomes compressed the spring retraction guide 55 and particularly the U-shaped section 56' guides the free end of the leaf-spring and prevents twisting or distorting the leaf-spring so that it would no longer be operative.

As impact is applied by the axle to one or the other of the journal centering guides, the guide absorbs energy by distributing it from the head and flexing the honeycomb wall portions. The flexing can take place without the development of excessive temperature and without the creation of a bubble or blister due to the presence of the recesses.

It will be evident that the device lends itself to replacement of journal centering guides by later removing the latches, putting in new guides and replacing the latches.

Having thus described our invention what we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A journal box device including a journal centering guide retainer having a fiat portion adapted to support, and having side walls adapted to retain a journal centering guide, characterized in an organic plastic journal centering guide having a flat bac k engaging said flat portion, side walls retained by the side walls of said retainer, a head opposite said back adapted to directly perform the centering function, said guide having a plurality of honeycomb recesses extending from the flat back toward but terminating before said head, the maximum thickness of the walls of the recesses being about 0.5 inch, whereby the journal centering guide has superior resistance to impact.

2. A journal box device of claim 11, in which said plastic is nylon plastic.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 629,339 7/1899 Clapper 30234 X 701,065 5/1902 Magee SOS- 1,107,227 8/1914 Ryan 30234 1,941,486 I/ 1934 Pilcher 30840 2,903,305 9/ 19-59 Sweger et a1. 308- 38 2,913,284 11/1959 Zankl 308238 X 3,020,099 2/1962 Smith 308238 X 3,084,982 4/ 1963 Bachman 30838 3,132,905 5/1964 Fisher et a1 30840 3,244,461 4/1966 Sweger 308--40 3,378,317 4/ 1968 Fisher et a1 30840 WEINDELL 'E. BURJNS, Primary Examiner. 

